The Man with the Iron Fists

Synopsis

Since his arrival in China's Jungle Village, the town's blacksmith has been forced by radical tribal factions to create elaborate tools of destruction. When the clans' brewing war boils over, the stranger channels an ancient energy to transform himself into a human weapon. As he fights alongside iconic heroes and against soulless...

Production Details

Synopsis

Since his arrival in China's Jungle Village, the town's blacksmith has been forced by radical tribal factions to create elaborate tools of destruction. When the clans' brewing war boils over, the stranger channels an ancient energy to transform himself into a human weapon. As he fights alongside iconic heroes and against soulless villains, one man must harness this power to become savior of his adopted people.

The Man with the Iron Fists

The Man with the Iron Fists, the directorial debut of music artist RZA, is clearly a love letter to all of the Wu Tang frontman's passions. An old school kung fu movie infused with hip hop beats and a comic book aesthetic, Iron Fists rarely makes a lick of sense, but it's a collage of imagination — and that earns it a few points. Like a cinematic version of the backyard games we all used to play, RZA casts himself as a Chinese town's resident badass who teams up with a cowboy to take down an army of ninjas assassins. The freeform style allows him to run wild, rarely providing actual thrills, but resulting in an action movie overflowing with heart. Bloody, bloody heart.

The manic script for Iron Fists, written by RZA and Eli Roth (Cabin Fever, Hostel) interlocks a handful of colorful characters with varying degrees of success: The Blacksmith (RZA), a freed slave who hopes to earn enough bucks to whisk his love, prostitute Lady Silk (Jamie Chung), away from the Pink Blossom brothel; Madam Blossom (Lucy Liu), the brothel's owner (and local mobster); Silver Lion (Byron Mann), a murderous gangster out to overtake the city with the help of his magical metallic underling Brass Body (Dave Bautista); Zen Yi a.k.a. The X-Blade (Rick Yune), whose father was killed at the hands of Silver Lion and now seeks revenge; and Jack Knife (Russell Crowe), a mysterious British gunslinger taking residence at the Pink Blossom who may have ulterior motives. Iron Fists bounces between the plot threads without much worry — you never really know who is doing what or why. But if characters say what they're thinking with conviction, then beat the daylights out of their opponent, it's supposed to suffice. More often than not, it does.

What Iron Fists lacks in coherency, it makes up for in absurdity. RZA pumps up the volume on every element of the film, from costumes that shoot daggers, to flamboyant, overacting evildoers, to Jack Knife taking the goriest route to defeat an enemy (in this case, using a knife gun to rip up a heavyset man's insides). Taking a page from mentor Quentin Tarantino's book, anything can happen in this Eastern martial soap opera, and everything does happen. It's money shot after money shot, the rapid pace reminiscent of channel surfing — likely the way most kung fu fans stumbled upon the type of films that inspire Iron Fists back in the '70s and '80s.

Not every moment pops — unlike Liu and Crowe, RZA doesn't exactly light up the screen when given the freedom to go crazy. Blacksmith is a muted, mumbling character who doesn't throw himself into a fight the way a kung fu movie demands from its lead. Behind the camera, the fight scenes are choreographed similarly to how the movie is structured: randomly, with the occasional inspired moment. But the inventiveness of the mechanics keeps Iron Fists working. A scene with two twins using contortion to throw and kick and punch their way through hoards of bad guys is a joy. Seeing Crowe (obviously not an expert in martial arts) lay down a few moves is pure fun too.

The Man with the Iron Fists isn't as expertly crafted as Tarantino's Kill Bill, but it has more mind-boggling oddities. RZA unleashes his passion into the film, so even when the story or action isn't working, something else on screen is.

What do you think? Tell Matt Patches directly on Twitter @misterpatches and read more of his reviews on Rotten Tomatoes!

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